Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Hong Kong (香港) - Up Close With Buddha

Hong Kong, in my opinion, is blessed with many beauties. For those who loved the urban lifestyles, you can find skyscrapers gracing the small islands, each as distinct and different from the rest that you can use it as landmarks. For the history buffs, all you have to do is just to dig deep the cityscape facade and you surely be able to find a rich heritage island. You can even get close to nature with the many natural trails for you to choose from. It is like an all-in-one country. With Hong Kong, you can do anything you want.

Where we embarked our journey...

It was the third day of our visit to the city and after the 'celebrities-filled' first day and adrenaline-pumped second day, we opted for a quieter and a more relaxing third day. We decided to get up close with the Big Buddha, located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. It is quite far from where we stayed that even if we took the MTR to the Ngong Ping station, it still take almost 30 minutes to reach. But it all worth it, I tell you.

The last stop before taking the cable car

The sky was in a darkish colour which is never a good sign in Hong Kong. It was supposed to be summer yet rain and dark clouds presided throughout our trips. When we went to purchase the tickets for the crystal cable car ride up to the mountain, we were informed that it was raining heavily up there. But, rain or shine, we were all determined to have a bonding moment with Buddha.

Look at the queue!

Ticket for my ride to Buddha

The ride up itself was something to be treasured for we get to have a 360 degree view of the city and its naturalistic surroundings. I think my words do not do any justice to how pretty it is so I just let the pictures do the talking.

There may be raindrops...

...but I'll find a way to capture the beauties of the island

When the mist began to conquer the sky

Halfway throughout the ride, the mist began to take over the sky, leaving us with nothing but whiteness to see. Strong wind blew and rocked our car but we believed in the construction company and fear of nothing. In the end, we did reached the top albeit the joy of it took a back seat as we saw torrential rain being a permanent resident. Lucky for us, after 20+ minutes, the rain decided to stop and we were able to walk around without holding an umbrella.

An aerial shot of the village

Very ancient looking decor

There was a Shaolin performance scheduled but due to the rain, we thought it would be cancelled but surprisingly, it was not. It changed the venue of the performance and we went to watch it before proceeding to be up close with Buddha.

A shot of their hoo-hahs

While everyone was raving about the martial art performance, my mind was already on the ascend to heaven. We moved on and when we were at the bottom of the long flight of stairs, we eagerly climbed our ways up. The views at the top of the stairs were simply satisfying to the point that all the sweats we broke on our ways up worth it.

At the bottom with long way to go...

Few steps closer...

Almost there...

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

There are two types of cable cars for you to choose from to go to Ngong Ping village and we took the Crystal Cabin Cable Car. The return ride for this see-through cable car is HKD169 per person. With the bottom of the cabin being transparent, it added another level of excitement to it and for those who have fear of height, try this if you want to challenge yourself. There is the normal cabin car and you can also choose to take buses up to the village.